“If you are a current junior or younger please note that the NCAA prohibits us from calling you back until after July 1 prior to the start of your senior year. However, feel free to keep calling /emailing us (text messaging is prohibited), as there is no limit on your contacts, initiated by you to us via email or phone. We are not allowed to call or email back unfortunately. Keep trying, we look forward to hearing from you. Be relentless!”

Division 1 coaches are not allowed to send recruiting information by mail or email to players before September 1st of their junior year and can not call until July 1st before their senior year. Typically, if you are on the recruiting radar of a school you will start to receive letters in the first days on the September and telephone calls in the first days of July. Schools are allowed to send you questionnaires and camp information though before September 1.

As the message from the coach above mentions, you want to be proactive getting your recruiting information in front of coaches by calling them and emailing them. As a sophomore, you want to make sure that you let a coach know that you are interested in their program and include your camp/tournament schedule for the upcoming summer. Including your video and profile gives them the “bait” to make sure they take the time to see you play over the summer.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. If you have any questions, feel free to email me directly at chris@lacrosserecruits.com. Also, if anyone can tell me which coach tells you to “Be Relentless,” I will hook them up with Reebok lacrosse gear.

Below are a few pointers we at LacrosseRecruits.com put together. Having a LacrosseRecruits.com profile helps a high school lacrosse player stay organized throughout the recruiting process. A LacrosseRecruits.com profile makes it easy for a college coach to view your profile and game video, increasing your odds of being recruited.

The four most important points we want every high school lacrosse player to understand are:

1. Work hard in the classroom and study hard for the SATs / ACTs. The better your grades and the higher your board scores, the more schools that can recruit you. The more schools that can recruit you, the more options you have. The more options you have, the less stressful the recruiting process will be.
2. Be realistic about your ability. The number of players that play at the top Division 1 schools is a very small percentage of the number of college lacrosse players across Division I, Division II, Division III and MCLA (club). Being realistic about your ability from the beginning will make the recruiting process a lot less stressful and ultimately more rewarding.
3. Do not pick a college just because you can play lacrosse there. Choose a college or university that is a good fit for you academically. Use lacrosse as a vehicle to get you into the best college possible.
4. BE PROACTIVE IN THE RECRUITING PROCESS. Just like anything else, the harder you work, the better your results will be. Create a profile on LacrosseRecruits.com and send your profile to every school you are interested in. Call the schools you are interested in. Introduce yourself to the coaches you are interested in when you see them at camps / tournaments. The more you put into the recruiting process, the more you will get out of it.

Rising Freshmen-

* Focus on academics!! Start your high school career off right by doing well in school. When the time comes and you are recruited, grades are VERY important. You can be the best player in the country but with poor grades, top tier academic institutions will not be able to recruit you. By working hard in school, the number of schools able to recruit you increases exponentially, giving you more options.
* Improve your lacrosse game. Keep a stick in your hand in the off-season and try to play a lot of lacrosse in the summer. Be sure to stay in shape if lacrosse is your only sport. If you are a multi sport athlete, that is terrific. College coaches like well-rounded athletes, but if lacrosse is your main sport, try to hit the wall during the off-season to stay sharp.

Rising Sophomores-

* Continue to work hard in school. Mistakes made sophomore year academically can really hurt your chances of being recruited by top academic institutions. The harder you work in the classroom, the more options you will have when being recruited. You do not want a coach that is interested in your athletic ability to not be able to recruit you because you did not take pride in your academics.
* Begin thinking about college and what kind of college you are looking for. Do you want a big school? Small school? Northern? Southern? Speak to your teachers about schools you are interested in and do research online.
* Create a LacrosseRecruits.com profile. You can choose schools you are interested in and each coach is alerted immediately of your interest. One click and any coach in the country can view your complete profile and video. This is the best way to get on the coach’s radar because a profile on LacrosseRecruits.com makes it convenient for the coach to view your profile and video. Instead of being another letter or e mail, you have a personal webpage that can be viewed by any college coach. For an example, view www.LacrosseRecruits.com/Chris_Hines

Rising Juniors-

* Again, keep working hard in school! This year is critical when you are applying to college. Take challenging classes. If you can take Advanced Placement classes, take full advantage.
* Make a list of 15-20 schools you are interested in. Be realistic about your lacrosse ability. Talk to your high school coach about what level you should be focusing on. Having a realistic list of target schools will make your life a lot easier when the recruiting season starts. Lacrosse should be used as a vehicle to get you into a better academic institution. Get the best education possible!
* By now, you should have a profile on LacrosseRecruits.com. Your profile has all academic and athletic information a college coach needs to evaluate your talent. The coach can also watch your high definition video with the click of a button.
* Having a profile on LacrosseRecruits.com allows coaches from every DI, DII and DIII school to search for athletes that fit their recruiting profile. Coaches run searches for athletes that fit their recruiting profile and are able to watch their video and connect with recruits they are interested in.
* College coaches are under a lot of pressure and giving them a convenient way to evaluate your talent increases your odds of being recruited. Instead of just sending a letter / DVD and crossing your fingers, your LacrosseRecruits.com profile makes it easy for the coach to see you play and see your grades. Including your custom web address in every e-mail and letter to coaches lets coaches quickly and easily evaluate your talent.
* Log into your LacrosseRecruits.com account to see where the coaches from the schools you are interested will be during the summer recruiting season. Every lacrosse program has a profile on LacrosseRecruits.com with a list of the Camps and Tournaments they plan to attend.
* In all correspondence with college coaches, include a link to your LacrosseRecruits.com profile. If your name is Chris Hines, your profile would be www.LacrosseRecruits.com/Chris_Hines. This allows a coach to quickly and easily see your profile and game video. When the coach logs into his account, he is able to see contact information and academic information.

Rising Seniors-

* Create a list of your top 15 choices. Connect with the coaches at each of these schools and include a link to your LacrosseRecruits.com profile. These coaches can view your profile / video and make a note to see you during the summer on the recruiting trail.
* If a coach contacts you and you are not interested, tell the coach. Coaches respect honesty.
* Again, be realistic about your ability. If you are not receiving letters from the top DI schools, do not take it personally. Play hard during the summer and focus on the schools that have shown interest in you. By the end of the summer, you will know where you stand recruiting wise.
* Upload game film to your LacrosseRecruts.com profile so a coach can see how you play in the flow of a game. Consider cutting down the game to only the plays you are involved in. Highlight tapes are important to show the coach your most athletic plays, but every coach is interested in seeing how you play over the course of a game. Everyone looks like a star in their highlight tape!
* Study hard for the SAT / ACT. Just like poor grades can keep you from being recruited, poor SAT / ACT scores can close doors from a recruiting standpoint. Do the best you can on these tests!

* BE PROACTIVE IN THIS PROCESS. Create your LacrosseRecruits.com profile to make it easy for a college coach to see you play, but do not be afraid to call a coach and introduce yourself. If you see a coach at a camp / tournament and you are interested in that school, introduce yourself. There are too many great lacrosse players out there to sit back and hope you are recruited. Take pride in your ability and reach out to schools you are interested in. Always follow up with coaches who have expressed interest in your ability.

In the last year, the LacrosseRecruits team worked to put together a recruiting guide that would make high school lacrosse players and their parent’s lives easier. We have answered hundreds of emails and have spent countless hours helping players and parents navigate the recruiting process. We are happy to offer A High School Athlete’s Recruiting Guide To College Lacrosse to the lacrosse community. We set out to provide a resource that answers difficult questions and sets players on their path to success, and I know our guide accomplishes that task.A High School Athlete’s Recruiting Guide To College Lacrosse is your road map to achieving results, tracking progress and evaluating college programs. The guide addresses many issues including:
1. Admissions
2. Financial Aid
3. NCAA & MCLA Eligibility
4. What Coaches look for in a player
5. How to get noticed by college coaches
6. The parents role and responsibility
7. The recruiting timeline
8. How to be proactive, a personal “action plan” and more.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly.